I have been waiting to tell my readers this story for awhile now. It started with a missing 4-year-old girl, Sophie.

I received a phone call from Tina, Sophie’s grandmother that told me her granddaughter had been taken across state lines.

So, I posted that she is missing, after all she was, because her father and her paternal grandparents and family did not know where she way. My concern was for the child and I put it up right away.

After the posting I did some digging. I couldn’t find any Amber Alert nor missing persons report filed. I couldn’t find a police report. Hmmm. Was this a “he said/she said” situation?

I contacted the father and talked with him. He was very straight forward, and told me that his wife and him had been going through a divorce for a while, and had worked out a custody agreement between themselves, and when it came time to follow up in court, since things were going so well, neither one of them showed up.

Subsequently, when Sophie was never brought back by her mother after their last visit, no Amber Alert nor missing persons report could be filed, because they never completed their custody arrangement in the courts.

Regardless, I left the story up. Sometimes, I have to take a leap of faith and believe what I am being told, and I believed Sophie’s dad.

Then on Friday, I received a message from someone that wanted to remain anonymous that said they knew where the little girl was, she was playing with her cousins, and I had the story all wrong. Later that day I received another email from Sophie’s maternal grandmother. Instead of telling you what it said, I’ll just show you.

• “This is my Grand daughter and you have been misinformed. She has lived with her mother since birth. Her father has never taken any care to help her mother in any way & has never been an overly active part of Sophie’s life. The pictures they are posting of Sophie have all been pictures that her mother took. They got them when they entered Annie’s apartment and took personal information from her computer. I really hope that you enjoy knowing that you are being decieved and that you can live with the fact that you are helping people that do not have Sophie’s best interest at heart.” Cory Cantrell

Then Saturday, I receive a phone call. I won’t bore you with the details, but basically she told me, I was stupid. That Sophie was not missing, that she was with the family she had always been with, and I didn’t know anything, and I needed to help some kid that really needs help, and so forth. I asked her many times, if she would like to tell me her side of the story and she refused. I asked for her name, she refused, which was kinda funny because she called me from an unblocked number. I knew it was the same person that emailed me. Any attempt I made to get her side of the story, she would bring it right back to what an idiot I was. Her last warning, “pull the post….or else!”

I never asked what “or else” was. I just thanked her for calling, and if she changed her mind and wanted to share her story to call me back, and hung up the phone.

The following morning I talked with the attorney representing the father about what happened. He was very glad to have the emails and the phone number from the phone call to take to court with him on Monday. Although I was fuming mad about the phone call, and wanted to let my readers know, he asked me to not post about it until he talked to the Judge on Monday. I am sure my readers understand that Sophie’s welfare was far more important, than a post, so I did not post. I even pulled my original article because I didn’t want to jeopardize Sophie’s safe return.

The result of the hearing was that the Judge ordered Sophie’s mother, Annie to return the child by the 19th of July.

Then on July 19th, I receive this message from Gregory, Annie’s boyfriend,

• “You have no rights to the picture on this blog. you have no rights to the information on my daughter, which you have illegally placed on the blog as shown here. remove it and all of the slanderous things you have posted about me, my name, my daughter, and our photo. otherwise i will press charges to the fullest extent of both local and federal laws. Gregory”

This message was sent to my Facebook page, by Gregory, so unless someone got on his Facebook account and sent this message, this is how he chose to air his frustration against me, and against many other people, too. I was not the only one that he was lashing out to, and sent the same message to many more people.

But, regardless, of his nonsensical and exaggerated outburst, and unfounded claims, this story is not so much about lying, bullying or the kinda crap I put up for my readers, but it is about how emotions can fog judgment of immature people and make them act and think irrationally.

Sophie’s maternal side of the family, just randomly and suddenly decided that they were the better parent and they could just take her, like she was an inanimate object. Not once did they think that Sophie would be wondering where her father was, where her paternal grandparents were, and why all of the sudden she was taken miles away. They were only concerned with themselves.

Thank goodness, we have Judges and a legal system that keeps people from acting on their impulses and taking matters in their own hands.

So, after posting this we will see what happens. Will I receive more emails or phone calls from irate “people”?

I’ll be sure to let you know.

So, where is Sophie, now? She has been brought back to North Carolina by her mother and will appearing in court for a hearing on July 26, which was yesterday. So, what happened at the hearing? I don’t know. No one has contacted me to let me know.

My hopes that the Judge will do what the parents did not do and get a custody agreement hashed out on paper, so this never happens again.

In many custody situations, the law HAS to intervene, because many parents use the children as a bargaining tool. It is only a matter of time, before one parent gets angry, over custody, money, or the former spouse dating or lifestyle, and the first thing they think of is they are the better parent and will take the law in their own hands.

At least the law can put some sense into people’s heads, because that can’t seem do it themselves.

About

Missing Persons of America – Jerrie Dean Missing Persons of America was started by Jerrie Dean in February 2011 and one year later reached 1 million visitors. At the end of December, 2016, we had over 10 million hits on the website. Missing Persons of America’s goal is to provide information about all missing persons […]